A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to telecommunication techniques. More particularly, the present invention provides a novel technique, including computer codes, to remove unwanted e-mail messages from a personal computer, workstation, or the like. These unwanted e-mail messages that were unsolicited are commonly referred to as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or xe2x80x9cSPAM.xe2x80x9d SPAM includes junk mail or junk e-mail messages, advertisements, adult web site information, and the like.
A variety of techniques have been used to transmit written messages from one geographic location to another. In the early days, people or messengers were the sole means used to carry written information from one person to another person. Although effective and still used today, messengers were limited by their physical abilities. That is, some messengers could not travel over rough terrain such as rocks, jungles, and other landscapes. Large bodies of water were also difficult to cross. Additionally, messengers generally could not travel over long distances in a short period of time. A human messenger could only travel a few miles or tens of miles during a typical day.
Accordingly, messengers were replaced, at least in part, by carrier pigeons. More particularly, carrier pigeons were used to move small pieces of papers having written information thereon from one geographic location to another. Carrier pigeons were quite efficient in some applications but could not generally travel over substantial distances. Accordingly, a relay of ponies and human riders was used for long distance travel across the North American continent. This relay of ponies was called the xe2x80x9cPony Express.xe2x80x9d The Pony Express carried written communication in the form of mail on leather pouches carried on the relay of ponies across the United States. Although all of these techniques were somewhat effective, they were often costly, unreliable, and difficult to achieve.
In the modern day world, a combination of transportation techniques are used in the postal system. These techniques include, among others, human carriers (e.g., mailmen), motorized vehicles such as cars or trucks, and airplanes, jets, and the like to physically transport mail throughout the United States. Conventional postal systems are often reliable and cost efficient. They are so efficient that they are often subject to many undesirable influences. One of these influences is the routine transmission of unsolicited advertisements, information, and the like to many households across the United States.
On any typical day, an average household receives at least one, if not more than one, unsolicited advertisement. As merely an example, the advertisement can be for carpet cleaning, credit cards, and other goods or services that are routinely sent by companies in an attempt to secure a purchase from the household. In many cases, these unsolicited advertisements often burden the postal system. Additionally, households are burdened by the advertisements, which are throw away. These unsolicited advertisements are also termed as xe2x80x9cJunk Mail.xe2x80x9d
Unfortunately, junk mail is not limited to use in only the conventional postal systems. In many wide area computer networking applications, junk mail is commonly sent to users in large groups, often thousands or perhaps millions of users. For instance, a user of a well known wide area network of computers, which is known as the xe2x80x9cInternet,xe2x80x9d often receives numerous lines of junk mail, which has been coined as SPAM! In fact, SPAM refers to such unsolicited advertisements that come to the user by way of electronic mail, also known as xe2x80x9ce-mail.xe2x80x9d
SPAM has become a significant problem degrading Internet performance due to the large number of junk e-mails sent every day, increases the cost to Internet Service Providers and corporations due to the increased need for storage space, decreases the productivity of recipients of e-mails, and the like. Furthermore, the junk e-mail sender pays very little for the ability to clog up the Internet, businesses, and individuals with junk e-mail.
Many distributors of SPAM send the SPAM with instructions on how to be removed from the SPAM distribution list. However e-mail messages often do not include such instructions on how to remove a recipient from a junk e-mail distribution list. In the cases where instructions are provided, many drawbacks exist to end users attempting to remove themselves from the e-mail lists. As merely an example, some of the ways to be removed from the mailing lists are time consuming to the recipient. Additionally, there are simply no standards in being removed from such mailing lists. Furthermore, the techniques that are available to be removed from the junk e-mail distribution list often require the recipient to perform time consuming tasks, such as sending a reply e-mail to the junk e-mail message and specifically typing a request to be removed from the mailing list, forwarding the e-mail message to another e-mail address and typing a request with specified text requesting removal, connecting to a particular web site and following instructions for removal (benefiting the web site provider by providing an advertising xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d), and the like.
Filters have also been used or proposed to remove junk e-mail messages from a recipients e-mail. In fact, various programs have been developed in an attempt to filter-out junk e-mail messages from e-mail in-boxes. Such programs appear to focus upon the e-mail address, host source, the format of the message, the content, and the like. When such programs detect junk e-mail, they automatically delete them so the user is not bothered by them. A drawback to such programs is that they may filter-out legitimate bulk e-mail messages that are of interest to the user, for example, e-mail messages from special interest groups, product recall and product warning notices, valuable product promotions from legitimate businesses, upgrade notices and bug patches for software programs, and the like.
From the above, it is seen that an improved technique for permanently removing junk e-mail messages is highly desired.
According to the present invention, a technique for removing junk e-mail messages from a system of computers over a wide area network is provided. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a technique for easily viewing and removing SPAM without opening it. The technique can permanently remove the SPAM from particular sources in some embodiments.
In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a novel method for replying to unsolicited e-mail communication such as SPAM or the like. The method includes a variety of steps such as displaying a remove icon on a display, and receiving a selection of the remove icon from a user in response to the unsolicited e-mail communication. The method also includes creating an e-mail communication having a remove message, in response to the selection of the remove icon, the e-mail communication addressed to a reply e-mail address specified by the unsolicited e-mail communication. A step of sending the e-mail communication to the reply e-mail address also is included. These and possibly other steps can permanently remove a portion of unsolicited e-mail in an easy and cost effective manner.
In an alternative embodiment, the present invention provides a method for a computer system including a processor, a display, and a user input device, for requesting removal of a user e-mail address from a SPAM e-mail mailing list in response to a SPAM e-mail. The SPAM e-mail includes removal instructions from the SPAM e-mail mailing list. Among other steps, the method includes displaying a remove icon on the display and receiving a selection of the remove icon from the user input device. The method also includes determining removal actions in response to the removal instructions. Removal actions are also performed. These steps, and possibly others, can permanently remove a portion of SPAM from an e-mail mailing list.
In a further embodiment, the present invention provides another method for removing an e-mail address from a mailing list in response to unsolicited e-mail communications. Among other steps, the method includes displaying the unsolicited e-mail communication on a display using an e-mail system. The method also includes displaying an remove icon on the e-mail system on a display, and receiving a selection of the remove icon from a user in response to the unsolicited e-mail communication. The method further includes a step of creating an e-mail communication having a remove message, in response to the selection of the remove icon, where the e-mail communication addressed to a reply e-mail address specified by the unsolicited e-mail communication. A step of using the e-mail system to send the e-mail communication to the reply e-mail address is included. These steps, and possibly others, can be used to efficiently remove unwanted e-mail messages from an e-mail system.
Numerous advantages are achieved by way of the present invention over conventional techniques. As merely an example, the present invention provides an easy to use method to remove unwanted or unsolicited e-mail messages. In some embodiments, the present invention is relatively easy to implement using pre-existing computer software. The present invention also is time efficient and relatively cost efficient. The computer codes also allows a user to permanently remove unwanted e-mail messages from a distribution list. Depending upon the embodiment, one or more of the advantages are achieved. These and other advantages are described throughout the present specification, and more particularly below.
These and other embodiments of the present invention, as well as its advantages and features are described in more detail in conjunction with the text below and attached